IRAN SAYS RESPONSE AUG 22

1-Israel under fire-day 9. 2-Vietnam floods leave 12 dead. 3-Rain lash Kalkata. 4-People ready to evacuate Philippes Volcano. 5-In Russia linking of Jewish Issues. 6-Iran says it will deliver Answer August 22.

JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

ISRAEL UNDER FIRE

20 JULY - DAY NINE

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

IAF fighter jets dropped 23 tons of explosives late Wednesday night on a Hezbollah bunker, possibly the hiding place of the group's leader Sheikh Nasrallah, in southeast Beirut.

Two brothers, aged nine and three, were killed Wednesday in the northern city of Nazareth as Katyusha rockets fell in the downtown

and suburban areas of the city. The deaths mark the first time since the recent violence has begun that the victims have been Israeli

Arabs. It was the third Israeli-Arab population center to be hit by Katyusha rockets during this conflict, though, after Madjal-Krum and Tubas Zangarit.

Two elite IDF soldiers were killed on Wednesday during clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon; three more soldiers have been wounded in continued fighting on Thursday.

Some 110 rockets were fired at Israel on Wednesday; IAF aircraft struck six Katyusha rocket launchers in southern Lebanon as well as 20 suspicious cars believed to be carrying Hezbollah operatives and weaponry.

Two suicide bombers were caught this week on their way to attacks in the center of the country.

For the latest news see the Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz and YNet.(www.honestreporting.com)

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Vietnam floods leave 12 dead or missing Thu Jul 20, 7:08 AM ET

HANOI (AFP) - Twelve people have been killed or missing feared dead after heavy summer rains triggered flash-floods and mudslides that destroyed 400 houses in mountainous northern Vietnam, officials said. Four people died in Bac Kan province and five had been missing since early Tuesday and were feared drowned, said provincial flood control official Ha Kim Oanh, who warned more floods were expected in the coming weeks.Two more people were killed in Vinh Phuc province, and one in Lang Son province bordering China, said an official of the National Flood and Storm Control Committee in the capital Hanoi.

Hundreds of villagers had been evacuated in remote Bac Kan where heavy rains have swollen rivers and cut roads, said an official in Bac Kan town, 125 kilometres (75 miles) north of Hanoi.The national government has warned 16 northern provinces to prepare for more severe storms ahead after weather services predicted higher than usual rainfall in coming months.

Rains lash Kolkata Thu Jul 20, 8:05 AM ET

KOLKATA (AFP) - Heavy rains flooded large parts of Kolkata, disrupting transport, forcing shops and schools to close and leaving some residents stranded, police have said. About 180 milimetres (seven inches) of rain drenched Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state, on Wednesday with more downpours predicted, weather officials said.Traffic was thin, most offices and schools remained closed as overnight rains flooded roads,said Kolkata deputy police commissioner P.K. Chattopadhyay.Train services were disrupted, government buses were not plying and trams services suspended as roads went under the water, he said.People were evacuated from low-lying areas of the city in rubber boats, he said.The city's Salt Lake area, home to many information technology companies, was badly hit and workers were left stranded on road sides after public transport was halted, IT consultant Swapan Mitra said.Schools and colleges were shut along with shops in upmarket business districts.

Ambulances and other services were also stretched forcing people to carry their sick relatives through knee-deep water to hospitals, witnesses said.Many long-distance trains from the eastern city were cancelled as railway tracks were under water, railway officials said, and flights were delayed.Blinding rain forced airport officials to reschedule the arrivals and departures of the flights from the citys domestic and international airport,an official said.A British Airways flight from London to Kolkata was diverted to New Delhi because of bad weather, he said.Rains and floods have claimed at least 12 lives and left more than a million people homeless in West Bengal since the start of the monsoon season this year.

GENESIS 6:13
13 for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Villagers prepare to evacuate from rumbling Philippine volcano Thu Jul 20, 4:04 AM ET

MATANAG, Philippines (AFP) - Villagers on the slopes of Mayon volcano have prepared to evacuate as a series of minor eruptions and cloud of ash indicated it was building up for a major eruption soon, officials said. The cone-shaped 2,462-meter (8,077-foot) volcano southeast of Manila has been spewing lava since last week and all signs indicate it was preparing for a major explosive eruption within days or weeks, volcanologists said.There were secondary explosions. A collapsed portion of the advancing lava caused an ash cloud of several hundred meters, scientist Ed Laguerta told AFP from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology's observatory in Legaspi city near Mayon.

He said alert level three of a five-step alert system remained hoisted over Mayon and nearby towns and villagers, meaning that residents should prepare for eventual evacuation.In the farming town of Matanag, which lies near the six-kilometer radius (four mile) permanent danger zone, residents have packed their things and were awaiting official word to evacuate.We only have one life to live each, it's important to save that,said coconut farmer Romeo Nantes, 55, and a father of three.Nantes however said that he would be tending his farm until a major eruption occurs.Under the shade of a tree, fellow farmer Balasta Balangitan, 37, led his family and friends in planning an escape route as they watched the smouldering lava flow snake down the slopes.

Balangitan said Matanag was among the towns devastated by Mayon's eruption in 2001, when several dozen people were killed. Mayon, about 300 kilometers (176 miles) southeast of Manila, is one of some 22 active volcanoes in the Philippines.It has erupted 47 times in recorded history, including in 1814, when it buried the town of Cagsawa killing an estimated 1,000 residents. Mayon's most recent major eruption was in 2001.

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines(PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

ACROSS THE FORMER SOVIET UNION
In Russia, linking of Jewish issues with democracy is no longer a given
By Lev Krichevsky,July 19, 2006

MOSCOW, July 19 (JTA) — Vladimir Putin insists that democracy and human rights are internal Russian issues. We proceed from the fact that no one knows better than we do how to strengthen our state, the president of Russia, which hosted the recent G-8
summit, said Saturday at a news conference following talks with President Bush.

We know for sure that we cannot strengthen our state without developing democratic institutions, and this is the path that we will certainly take. But we’re certainly going to do this on our own. Worries have grown during the past year over what many see as Putin’s increasingly authoritarian rule, limiting dissent and cementing his own power. In the Soviet era and even after, this would have been considered a Jewish issue, since issues involving democracy and human rights were seen as inextricably linked to Jewish concerns. But is it still the case in a Russia where Jews have freedom of worship and the freedom to emigrate? Do Russian Jews think attention to Russia’s democratic record is productive for the community, or is it a counterproductive development that could further alienate Russia from the West?

Some observers believe Russian Jews should remain sensitive to human-rights issues simply because they are a minority that could become a target.As in any country, minorities, including Jews, have a worse chance for survival under authoritarian regimes, said Yevgenia Albats, a leading Moscow political journalist. Just because the situation looks fine for Jews now does not mean the regime will always keep it the same. Under authoritarian rule, everything, both good and bad, lies with the autocratic leader. She added, Such a leader often needs an internal enemy, and Jews are among the best candidates to this position.

A leading U.S. advocate for Jews in the region agrees.

History and current events show that Jews live better under democratic rule, said Mark Levin, executive director of NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eurasia. In Russia, the Jewish community has not been targeted by the government, it has been able to develop its cultural, educational and religious institutions, but who’s to say how long this can last if the overall society doesn’t progress. Among the issues of concern to Western leaders is Russia’s treatment of nongovernmental organizations. Early this year, Putin signed into law a highly controversial bill that bans foreign participation in the nonprofit sector,
further isolating Russian society from international democratic trends and institutions.

It is certain that the authorities are trying to limit the influence from abroad played by various non-governmental organizations, although fears that this might somehow affect Jewish organizations have not materialized yet, said Mikhail Chlenov,secretary general of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. Another longtime Jewish activist said a discussion over the state of democracy in Russia could help bring long-standing problems to the surface. Tankred Golenpolsky, founder and publisher of the International Jewish Gazette, Russia’s oldest Jewish weekly, gives an example of the problem. There are three Jewish weeklies in Moscow, and each saw how their subscribers got concerned when they tried to mail the papers without blank envelopes, he said.

After all these years, there is deep-seated fear in Jews here. That means there is a problem that we need to talk about. You can only fight fear by talking about it.

Golenpolsky believes Russia should not be shy about openly discussing issues of democracy and minority rights, both within Russian society and with Moscow’s foreign partners in meetings like the G-8 summit. This is our Russian complex: We think that if others don’t know that we have problems at home, then we don’t have problems, he said. But some leaders contend that any such connection may not be productive now that the Jewish community lives in a much freer country and doesn’t face an immediate threat to its well-being. The Federation of Jewish Communities, Russia’s largest Jewish group and the one with the best relations to the Kremlin, said responsible Jewish groups and leaders should think twice before adding their voices to the chorus of those criticizing the Kremlin. Jewish organizations should have as their main focus the interests of the Jews that live in this country, federation spokesman Boruch Gorin said. Gorin and the federation believes it’s in the community’s interest to deal with issues of human rights in a more cautious manner and to avoid irritating authorities. It would be irresponsible” for Jewish organizations to engage in a discussion on human rights without taking into account the peculiarities of Russian mentality and Russian history, Gorin said. Gorin said that the traditional approach, of local Jews appealing to the West on major issues of concern to the Jewish community, is not smart and ineffective.

Golenpolsky disagreed.

We are a mature country with a great history, but we shouldn’t be playing hide-and-seek with our problems and with our partners, he said.In the meantime, few Jewish activists would disagree that the state could do more to fight the anti-Semitism that continues to plague Russian society, even in the absence of a state-sponsored policy against the Jews. But some Jewish leaders say the issue will not be solved by lecturing Russia on its internal problems. Lecturing Russia is not necessary and not enough, Chlenov said.

Much more here depends not on the West but on Russia’s own society. Either there is the will of society to fight with these evils, or there isn’t. Foreign lessons would hardly help. (JTA Foreign Editor Peter Ephross in New York contributed to this report.)

Iran might nuke Israel on this date, this date has to do with Mohammid going to heaven.So its an important date to Iran and could be a warning that Iran is going to nuke Israel.

Iran says it will deliver response Aug. 22 By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 52 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Thursday it would formally respond on Aug. 22 to a Western package of incentives aimed at resolving the standoff over its suspect nuclear program — the first time the Islamic republic has set a specific date for its reply. The Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security decision-making body, also threatened that the country would reconsider its nuclear policies if sanctions were imposed by the United Nations.The council did not elaborate, but Iranian officials repeatedly have suggested that Tehran may withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and stop cooperating with U.N. inspectors.The package of incentives requires a logical time to study it ... Aug. 22 has been set for declaring (our) views,the council said in a statement read on state-run television.In case the path of confrontation is chosen instead of the path of dialogue ... and Iran's definite rights are threatened, then there will be no option for Iran but to reconsider its nuclear policies.

The statement came a day after Russia said the U.N. Security Council is in no rush to pressure Iran over its nuclear program, striking a more conciliatory tone than the United States as diplomats began discussing a resolution to put legal muscle behind demands that Tehran suspend uranium enrichment.The United States and some of its allies accuse Iran of seeking to produce highly enriched uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity.In Thursday's statement, Iran said it plans to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear energy in the next 20 years.The Western nations on June 6 offered Iran a package of incentives — including advanced technology and possibly even nuclear research reactors — if Tehran suspended enrichment.

But the frustrated powers agreed last week to send Iran back to the U.N. Security Council for possible punishment, saying Tehran had given no sign it would bargain in earnest over its nuclear ambitions.Iran has said the incentives package was an acceptable basis for negotiations.Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad initially said Iran would respond to the package in mid-August, but the republic then pushed back its response to late August. Thursday's statement was the first time a specific date was set.The United States has accused Iran of stalling while it continues to pursue suspect technology, but Tehran accused Washington on Thursday of putting up obstacles.The Iranian council said special committees in key state agencies were still studying the offer by the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany, and it invited the United States and its allies to return to the negotiating table.

It said it was surprising that the United States was creating obstacles for a negotiated settlement while Iran was seriously studying the offer.Iran is not after tension, but if others push things toward tension and create problems, then all will face problems. Iran believes dialogue is the most logical solution. It is serious in this path. We want the other side to return to the negotiating table, the statement said.The Islamic Republic of Iran is committed to a negotiated settlement through diplomacy. The United States, by changing the path of talks toward the Security Council, is trying to create obstacles.

A senior Iranian lawmaker said Tuesday the country's parliament was preparing to debate withdrawal from the nonproliferation treaty if the U.N. Security Council adopts a resolution that would force Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment. Withdrawal from the treaty could end all international oversight of Iran's nuclear program. In February, Iran for the first time produced its first batch of low-enriched uranium, using a cascade of 164 centrifuges. The process of uranium enrichment can be used to generate electricity or in building a bomb, depending on the level of enrichment.Iran has said it will never give up its right under the treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel, but it has indicated it may temporarily suspend large-scale activities to ease tensions.